Donavan Olumba former Dallas defensive back is reported to have signed with the Browns.

UDFA who has done nothing in the NFL thus far. Your link doesn't work, by the way. (at least it didn't for me)

https://www.si.com/nfl/browns/news/cleveland-browns-to-sign-corner-donovan-olumba

He stood out in Cowboys preseason play. Another S/CB who has a lil pop to him in terms of physicality.

Olumba is an interesting add for the Browns. At 6'2" and just over 200 pounds, he is an outside cornerback primarily and fits the mold of corners that the Seattle Seahawks have used for a long time. That system is one Browns defensive coordinator Joe Woods has an affinity for. Woods spent the last few seasons with Richard Sherman who came to prominence in that system.

Olumba was an undrafted free agent out of Portland State. He was signed by the Dallas Cowboys in 2018 to add to the team a taller, rangier corner. He spent the 2018 season on the Cowboys practice squad and most of the 2018 season there as well. He was promoted to the team's active roster late in the season and played in one game but did not record any statistics.

Coming out of college, Olumba showed good athleticism. His pro day have us his measurements with a 4.58 40-yard dash, a 36" vertical jump, 10'7" broad jump as well as a 6.99 in the 3-cone drill and a 4.47 in the 20-yard shuttle.

According to his agent, exclusively to The OBR, this is a chance for Olumba to reunite with his former coach in Ben Bloom:

"He is excited. Worked with Coach Bloom in Dallas" says his agent Evan Brennan.

Bloom is the Browns senior defensive assistant after nine years with the Cowboys where he held a variety of jobs including as linebackers coach the last two years but has had time with defensive backs as well.

Bloom had a positive impact on Olumba, despite not being his primary coach.

Olumba is the team's second cornerback addition, with Kevin Johnson brought in earlier, but their fourth defensive back signed with safeties Karl Joseph and Andrew Sendejo also brought in.

Along with Johnson, Olumba will have to compete with Denzel Ward and Greedy Williams on the outside. Ward, the fourth overall pick two years ago, has had his ups and downs in his first two seasons and will be on his third defensive system in his third season in the league. Williams fell last year in the draft and had some struggles adjusting to the NFL, with teams often targeting him late in the season.

Terrance Mitchell is still on the Browns roster but the additions of Johnson and Olumba could hasten his departure, either via a trade or the team releasing him. With sufficient cap space, the Browns could allow competition in training camp to decide Mitchell's fate as well.

For Olumba, released by the Cowboys a few days ago, the Browns offer an opportunity to take the next step in his career. The transition to Woods' system and the value on taller, longer corners could allow Olumba to get snaps earlier than many expect.

He will also be expected to help on special teams.

Terms of the deal have not been reported at this time.

https://247sports.com/nfl/cleveland-brow...owns-145254171/

Could be a safety prospect, though most likely just a 5th CB and ST guy ... or camp cut

Agreed but you never know if it's a player that could develop with good coaching. With any young player you sign or draft there's always a chance they could develop into more than what was thought.

Really, 247? The arrival of a guy who played 32 defensive snaps all year last year is going to "hasten" Terrance Mitchell's departure??

If Mitchell gets released it will have nothing to do with this guy. Johnson and Mitchell has the same general usage rate last year, but this guy?

I swear these internet journalists just make stuff up.

At 6'2" and just over 200 pounds ; Now that's what I like to see in a DB !

filling out the bottom of the roster and adding competition. Contrary to that article, this has no effect at all on our top guys

Are Top guys are of slight built and will miss playing time again this season ( beating a dead horse as this is a pet peeve of mine ) .. Going to need serious depth a CB.

Agreed ... the signing of Olumba means nothing to our top 2-3 CBS

Missing time, or being 'slight' built?

It's football man... all sizes get hurt. Its a part of the game.

Willing to bet that Neither Ward or Greedy play 16 games .. They are both slight of Built and the Big Wide Outs will take a toll on both .

I am a Buckeye homer big time.
Loved Ward in College , but doubted his durability in the NFL. I think that's one reason why we have seen Delpit drop in the mocks .
Was billed as a can't miss Safety at the start of the College season.

In all honesty, it probably means little to the final roster, either. He'll probably be a camp/practice squad guy.

Holding my breath with all this defensive secondary signings. what are we building? More importantly, can they play well together?

Out of this, who do we see as realistic difference makers. I didna know this name at all. Like it if he can outplay some of what we had parked out there last year. Leadss were seldom safe with that secondary as played.

j/c:

This seems like a dumb signing in my opinion.

curious as to why you think so. care to elaborate?

He is not Richard Sherman just because he has similar size to him.

He hasn't played well in the NFL. Mitchell has. Bringing in this guy and getting rid of Mitchell would be idiotic in my opinion. I think very highly of Mitchell. Hell, I think he is better than Greedy at this point in time. But, I get Greedy's potential.

Not asking you to agree. But, I'm not liking what I am seeing after day one from this FO. I will say that I think the KJ signing has a high upside. Not saying he will reach it because of his injury concerns, but he has some skills.

I'll take guys who can run, have good hips, break on the ball, and change directions to make tackles over big, hard-hitting, straight-line, terrible angle pursuits, and playing on ice skates in the open field any day of the week.

People overrate size and big hits. The game is much more complex than that.

Edit: I hope that did not come across as hostile towards you. I did not intend it that way. I think you are an excellent poster. I'm just a big aggravated w/some of these moves.

I didn't read your post as hostile at all.

Have we cut Mitchell? I didn't see this signing meaning we would cut/get rid of or be a replacement for Mitchell.

What tape have you seen of Olumba to say he hasn't played well? Please share. Also, I have no way of knowing how they would use/position Olumba, but bc of his size I'm thinking he'd play more safety than corner. But again, IDK.

Not sure what you mean by "tape." It is my understanding that he didn't play. Maybe I am wrong about that?????? If so, I apologize.

I know he was undrafted. I know his 40 time is around 4.6. I am pretty sure he didn't play. I am NOT sure if that is because of injury. I do know that he is being talked about as a corner and linked to Sherman because of our coach. I did read the article where Mitchell being cut was mentioned.

Sorry, I don't get this signing. That doesn't mean I am saying I am right. I will say I wonder where these questions are when folks say "good signing" on so many other players? LOL

I'm going to be upset if we get rid of Mitchell.

In general, with these moves, i'd like to see the contracts.

It seems like we're signing a ton of guys. More than we ever have.

Then we have 7 draft picks. 4 in the top 100 and the 115th pick as well. (So five very good picks).


Are all these guys we are signing getting guaranteed money? I can't imagine all of them making the roster? Not with all those draft picks. So, maybe Money Mitch will still make this team if he beats out one of these guys in camp......



I mean, he's a UFA next year and is due 3.6 million (.6 million guaranteed), i think next year the plan is to sign significantly fewer FA's and try to get compensatory picks the year after........

Some of these moves are reminding me of the last time Berry was here.

Remember letting Schwartz walk? Who replaced him?

They didn't want Gipson? We were a mess at FS for two straight years.

Cut Gabriel and let Benji walk and kept stiffs like Louis and Payton.

I don't know........maybe Turk is right and they brought this dude in to convert to safety. If so, it might end up working out.

I am not drawing any lines in the sand. Just trying to talk some football.

Wow! That's all he is making? I didn't realize that. That is dirt cheap for that caliber of a player. Thanks. No way we cut him. I guess I blindly bought into that article.

I wouldn't get your hopes up too much. I read the reason the Anthony Harris deal fell through had not nothing to do with the draft picks Minnesota wanted in return. It was the contract extension he wanted. Therefore, we still have no safeties. We have no linebackers.

The defense is downright putrid. Even if Baker gets back on track, this defense isn't stopping anyone. And I have this terrible feeling that Mitchell and Vernon will be gone before the season.

Meanwhile, Pitt and Balt defenses are straight up scary.

I question things, but it's too early for doom and gloom. They might make some dramatic moves to shore up the FS and LBer spots. We don't know they won't.

I'm just a bit confused about some of these signings and the neglect for our most pressing needs.

I am a big believer in drafting BPA and using free agency to address needs. I despise using the draft to address needs. I don't care where you went to school...........that is simply ignorant.

On the positive side..............that is why I loved the Conklin, Hooper, and Keenum signings. They were all at positions of need and all three can ball. Great moves!!!

You have to keep in mind who is saying what. The statements about Mitchell's future with the team was made by an OBR sportswriter, not by anyone affiliated with the team. There was no mention of a team source suggesting that Mitchell is on the way out. Mitchell has been a stabilizing force in the secondary. Does anybody really believe that before the first OTA coaches have decided this guy is the second coming of Richard Sherman and Mitchell is being released?

Typical careless reporting.

It's a low-risk signing IMO.

guard, that is true. However, why are the Browns signing corners instead of safeties?

We are already strong at corner. We are weak at safety. I can tell you are real high on this FO because you keep praising and defending them. You didn't do the same when some posters trashed Dorsey's moves. I'm good w/you feeling that way because I think you're a good dude.

But, given their history.........are you sure they aren't bringing in all of these corners and are going to keep a quality player like Mitchell? And why aren't they bringing safeties? Or linebackers who can play?

I'm sorry, bro. I don't get moves like this one.

Vers, I supported Dorsey. Overall he did a great job. As with all of the decisions that Dorsey made I would rather see the player perform before making a final judgment. I simply can't evaluate a guy to be a bad player or say that because a guy didn't work out on a previous team he's automatically trash. In the case of Olumba he was with a pretty stacked organization. Being a contributor on that defense is probably more difficult than breaking in with the Browns.

We went out and spent a ton of money on the offensive side of the ball. There wasn't enough cap room to do the same on the defense after those signings. So they implemented this strategy. I think it's a good strategy given the reality of the cap. We need depth and we're using FA to get it. I think our draft will be heavy on defense. We still have the opportunity to get impact players.

Another aspect of what they are doing that I read about was that because these are one-year deals if they are not re-signed for the 2021 season the team could get compensatory picks in 2022. That's next level.

Good reply. I don't totally agree, but I do respect your opinion. Thanks for answering, my man.

He's JAG. He's the equivalent of an UDFA. No big deal to me either way. I just hope we don't cut a useful contributor and keep him.

I don’t know what the intentions are in regards to this player but checking the roster we only had 6 CBs. If I had to guess this is just a camp body that caught the eye of the coach that came from the Cowboys.

I hope you are right and you very well could be right. No debate on that claim.

Meanwhile............I am interested to see if anyone wants to respond to this:



I believe it is a fairly significant topic. I remember how so many loved TJ Ward and I thought he was so overrated. What say you about what makes a good DB?

A lot of Sports writers, fans, analyst are going overboard atm. The only thing going on in sports is the NFL Free Agent signings. If nothing out else, people are reacting and speculating more than usual ( which is saying something ) for click bait and traffic numbers because there is nothing else going on. I'm surprised the "sports writers" have not started speculating if a player uses Lavoris or Scope, and how that will effect their play in September. Let's all just see how it all plays out in the draft and into training camp. I'm pretty sure these bottom of the roster moves will not change the players selected in the draft, or players kept on the 55 man roster. Let them prove their worth in camp.

I don’t think you will get anybody to disagree with you, especially the way you have laid it out. lol. Personally, in a strong safety I am willing to give up a little in the way of speed for the ability to hit. I am not big on guys who can’t take proper angles. Those players are the worst.

How many of those guys are available right now?

My guess is we are going to look at him as a safety. A big, slow corner doesn't work in the NFL.

LOL------I did not mean to stack the deck in my favor through the clever use of language, but now that you mention it, my descriptive words were one-sided. Sorry about that.

Donovan Olumba Film Session || Dallas Cowboys Training Camp Player To Watch

I always noticed one thing about the Patriots DBs. They tackled. I can’t recollect one of them lighting up a guy, but I do recollect them always trying to bring a guy down as soon as he caught the ball.

I’d much prefer a guy who made tackles. Always have, always will.

Now, if you can add a bit of height to the equation, and keep the same attributes, great, it makes for a better reach to bat balls.

Think of him as a back end of the roster type guy. Lets say we are checking him out to see if he can play Safety. If so he could be a guy we keep as our last DB on the roster who can play both CB, and S, thus freeing us up to carry an extra player at another position.

Me too.

As a coaching staff, we used to emphasize that your job as a defender was to not allow the ball carrier to make any further progress, even if that means forcing him out of bounds. The sideline is like an extra defender.

Big hits are thrilling and they get everyone jacked-up. Even teammates and coaches get excited. But, whiffs are break-breakers. Big hits should come w/in the flow of the game and happen naturally rather than a guy looking to make them and not being fundamentally sound in his approach to tackling.

That's my two cents.

That's fine, bro. However, we already decided to not keep Burris and Carrie.

I was glad to see Burris go, but I would have preferred that we kept Carrie for this season.

J/c

I think if we keep Mitchell we are set at CB .. between Ward, Greedy, Johnson, Mitchell, Olumba ... that’s a good unit

Why u wish we kept Carrie?

Why were you glad to see Burris go?

j/c

Another long shot...maybe he can replace McCourty...who was traded away for a 7th rd ham sandwich to NE...for not being a 'real' football player.

I believe Carrie was a good 4th or 5th Cb for us.

Good grief ; The young man hasn't even stepped on the field yet.. There is very little tape on him. The FO, and I believe Wood wanted to look at the kid. So how about the USUAL SUSPECTS wait until sometime in training camp before they spout their " I know best " and trash him and the FO !

Done for a while now .. lol

j/c

Stumbled on to this while looking for info about Olumba's 40 time. Since there is hardly any information on the player any info is useful. Whether he sticks on the roster, I'm making no claim about that. This video could help explain why we brought him in.

BTW, Voch Lombardi is a personality of a certain flavor but he can breakdown tape.

Donavan Olumba

I was not sold on his play or his future,or that he was worth 4 million per year. He didn't do much with the Jets in 2016, or 2017. He was waived by the Jets in 2018, then signed to their practice squad, where we signed him on in November of 2018, then in April of 2019 we resigned him, and then cut him on Sept 1st. 12 days later the Raiders signed him then cut him 6 days later. We then resigned him only because of all the injuries we had.

So, he is a "good" signing because there is little tape on him.

Got it.

Dear Usual Suspect ; I find your lack of reading comprehension amusing for an ex-Educator.

I stated that lack of film ( game ) makes it hard to know anything about his possibility's .. The Browns see something they want to explore .. How is that so hard for you to comprehend or except ?

Do us both a favor and don't respond to my post ..lol

I like listening to some of Voch Lombardi's idioms as he breaks down the film.

Man, I missed this as I was trying to navigate through the murky water and all the BS on this thread.

I love that dude. guard, weren't you the guy who posted the breakdown of Caleb Brantley? Bro, I laughed my ass off on that breakdown. It was a great breakdown and he was so funny. Great stuff.

One thing about the video you just posted on Olumba.............damn dawg, the dude has some long arms. Incredible. Looks to be a zone corner at best. Maybe a dime guy? Those long arms have to be beneficial, though.

For anyone who is interested and to not derail the thread.......but check out the video guard posted a few years ago before we drafted Caleb Brantley. It's freaking hilarious:

Disclaimer: don't click on the video if you are not interested and feels it detracts from Olumba.

Doskie Woskie

you're right- hilarious!

Haha that was great ... entertaining.

He’s right ... Brantley had potential but basically no consistency or desire

This is approx your 15th post in this thread. BS = Different Opinions...I reckon.

Note: If you don't want off-topic responses like this one, don't post that kind of passive-aggressive BS and NOT expect a response.

#dawgtalkwarrior

I can't miss my opening ! lol

Wasn't Vers the one putting me down for liking the signing .. Wonders never cease .. lol

Yo, did you guys ever read Madd Magazine as kids? This reminds me of that "Spy vs. Spy" shizzle.

Yes, Vers can be somewhat extra at times. But for the sake of everyone else who isn't invested in this feud could you just let sleeping dawgs lie?

Don't accuse me of taking sides. I'm just tired of it, all around.

Why ask for it when you know it's not going to happen?

How do I know unless something gets said?

Not saying anything doesn't help. Maybe if enough posters who aren't in a faction said something, things might change.

I made the suggestion in another thread that maybe some of these ongoing feud-fests could go to Private Messages, because we didn't all need or want to see them on every thread, but it was ignored. At this point, I wish the mods would just remove posts that are obviously attacking other posters rather than just addressing the topic. What's too bad is that most of the guys who partake in the bickering have something to say about various topics that I'd like to read.

Let me say that I don't even reply to WSU, device, and 888. I have PMed 888 and WSU and was told not to do so. I have asked all three that we just ignore one another so as to not clutter the board. They can't agree to that, either. It's important they shout me down. It won't work.